nuclear-news

Fukushima leaks will keep fisheries closed

...”People ask when will it be safe, and we can’t answer that,” says Buesseler. “The only thing you can do is stop the source, and that’s a huge engineering challenge.”…

…The radioactive elements disperse once in the ocean, so there is no threat to the Pacific at large, says Simon Boxall of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK…. (more here from simon boxhall.. The SMC favourite ; http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-mystery-substance-covering-seabirds-in-english-channel/ )

…The problem is that groundwater is entering the damaged reactor buildings, picking up radioactive elements like caesium and seeping out to sea…

07 August 2013

IT JUST won’t let up. Two years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan was devastated by a tsunami, radioactive water is still leaking into the ocean, spelling more trouble for the local fishing industry.

Last month the plant’s owner, Tepco, finally admitted what many had suspected – that the plant was leaking. Now Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority is calling it an emergency. It says Tepco’s plans to stop the leak are unlikely to work.

The problem is that groundwater is entering the damaged reactor buildings, picking up radioactive elements and seeping out to sea. Tepco has spent months pumping the water to the surface and storing it in tanks, and sinking wells to lower the water table. Now it is building a series of underground walls to act as a dam. But this is probably too late: the rising water will soon swamp them.

“We’ve known for some time the reactors are still leaking,” says Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. The biggest leaks happened soon after the tsunami. The ongoing leaks are thousands of times smaller, but still detectable.

The radioactive elements disperse once in the ocean, so there is no threat to the Pacific at large, says Simon Boxall of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK.

But Japan has set a strict limit on levels of caesium in seafood, so the leaks will only extend the ban on locally caught fish and seafood being sold, depriving communities of their livelihoods.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Fukushima still leaking”

Read more: Click here to read the original, longer version of this story

That link will give you this;

Over two years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan was devastated by a tsunami, radioactive water is still leaking into the ocean, spelling more trouble for the local fishing industry along the coast of Fukushima prefecture.

Last month the plant’s owner, Tepco, finally admitted what many had suspected – that the plant was leaking. Now Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority is calling the situation an emergency, and says Tepco’s plans to stop the leak are unlikely to work.

The problem is that groundwater is entering the damaged reactor buildings, picking up radioactive elements like caesium and seeping out to sea. Tepco has spent months pumping the water to the surface and storing it in tanks, and sinking wells to lower the water table.

They also have a plan to purify the water, but this is only a partial solution as some radioactive substances, like tritium, cannot be removed.

Underground dam

Tepco is now building a series of underground walls to act as a dam and stem the flow. But this is probably too late: the rising water will soon swamp them.

“[Tepco] are admitting something we’ve known all along,” says Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. He has observed elevated levels of caesium and other radioactive elements in the oceans off Fukushima ever since 2011. The biggest leaks happened soon after the tsunami. The ongoing leaks are thousands of times smaller, but their radioactivity is still detectable.

The radioactive elements disperse once in the ocean, so there is no threat to the Pacific at large, says Simon Boxall of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK. “But it will cause a problem in the immediate vicinity of Fukushima.”

Japan has set a strict limit on levels of caesium in seafood, so the leaks will only extend the ban on locally caught fish and seafood being sold, depriving communities of their livelihoods.

Given that Tepco is unlikely to stem the leaks from Fukushima any time soon, the fishing ban could continue for a long time. “People ask when will it be safe, and we can’t answer that,” says Buesseler. “The only thing you can do is stop the source, and that’s a huge engineering challenge.”

August 11, 2013 - Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized